9 actors we want to see in the next Star Wars trilogy
By Brad Whipple
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 07: Sam Witwer attends NBCUniversal’s “2013 Winter TCA Tour” Day 2 at Langham Hotel on January 7, 2013 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
2. Sam Witwer
It’s long overdue for Sam Witwer to appear on the big screen. His performance as Starkiller in The Force Unleashed video game series marked his entry into Star Wars fandom in 2008, and the character quickly caught fire.
It wasn’t just Starkiller’s overpowered force capabilities but also Witwer’s convincing portrayal of a character battling his own identity that intrigued fans, as Starkiller transformed from Vader’s assassin to Rebel Alliance hero.
Dave Filoni then recruited Witwer for the The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels animated series as Maul and the Emperor (both of whom Witwer voices in Battlefront II). Filoni and George Lucas made the executive decision to resurrect Maul, but it only worked because Witwer owned it.
He took a character with just 31 words in The Phantom Menace and fleshed him out through one of the most memorable and menacing story arcs of Star Wars.
More recently on May 24, Witwer got onto the topic of Star Wars while streaming his latest work, Days Gone, on Twitch. He admitted that he visited the set of the upcoming series, The Mandalorian, very early in the pre-visualization process.
It was purely one friend helping another since Filoni needed a reference point to plan out some shots, but it was also Witwer’s first time on a live-action Star Wars set—even though he had lent his voice talents as Maul in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Witwer’s talents are being underutilized with voice-overs alone.
Behind-the-scenes footage of Witwer voicing Maul removes all doubt over his commitment to a role and to what lengths he’ll go to deliver lines—literally contorting his body to produce a certain inflection in Maul’s voice. If given the opportunity to do live action, he would bring one of the most hard-hitting and captivating performances we’ve seen yet.